'Useless' wastelands turn up wealth of animal life

The Straits Times reports today that 'Associate Professor Peter Ng, Director of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, was recently singled out by the journal Nature for his ground-breaking work that has uncovered a wealth of animal life in habitats long neglected and dismissed as barren'

"'I hope that my work will paint a more complete picture of the diversity of animal life, so that conservation efforts can take these areas into account,' he said.

'Perhaps, in a small way, this research will change the perception of what has often been described as useless wasteland, and make people think twice before destroying it.

'At the very least, the excuse 'species poor' will no longer be a valid one.'"